 Shirley Melikian Armbruster
(University Communications)
has been named to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Advisory Council on Communications and Public Affairs. She joins 16 other senior public relations, communications and marketing officers who assist the AASCU in efforts to advance the cause of public higher education and the leadership role of communications professionals at member institutions. AASCU represents more than 400 public colleges, universities and systems of higher education throughout the United States and its territories. AASCU schools enroll more than three million students or 55 percent of the enrollment at all public four-year institutions.
 Linda Cano
(alumna 1993, 1998) has been named executive director of the Fresno Art Museum. She was a member of the museum's board of trustees and has served as the board secretary. She has also served faculty member in the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department. An art historian, she has lectured at the museum about its permanent collection of Mexican pre-Columbian Art.
 Jill Fields
(History) has been appointed as a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. She is lecturing on topics drawn from her research in American women's history and culture. Her research has been published in academic journals and An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie and Sexuality (UC Press, 2007) and the forthcoming book of essays she has edited, Entering the Picture: Judy Chicago, the Fresno Feminist Art Program and the Collective Visions of Women Artists (Routledge, Fall 2011). An Intimate Affair is now available as an e-book: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520252615
 George B. Kauffman
George Kauffmann (Chemistry, emeritus) published “A Look Back at ACS National Presidents, XXIII. Farrington Daniels 1889-1972,” in the Hexagon of Alpha Chi Sigma, Fall 2010; “More on the Karlsruhe Congress” (with Jean-Pierre Adloff), Chemical and Engineering News, Oct. 11; “Hungarian Red Mud Alumina Flood,” Community Alliance, Dec.1; ”Gerhard Ertl, 2007 Nobel Chemistry Laureate” (with Adloff) in Viacheslav Mikhailovich; “Perfect timing for a project – Rediscovery of the Elements,” Chem 13 News, December 2010/January 2011; and “There’s a war going on,” Fresno Bee, Jan. 1.
Ephraim Smith
(History, emeritus) will have his Emmy-nominated documentary Power for the Parkinsons screened March 23 at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., as part of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. The film, narrated by Walter Cronkite shortly before his death, is about the making of the historic government propaganda film Power and Land advocating President Roosevelt’s rural electrification program in 1940. Smith’s documentary has aired on several PBS affiliates in the Midwest. He recently completed a companion film, The Parkinsons, about the Ohio farm family who starred in Power and Land.
Student Achievements
Fresno State students honored at the KCACTF Festival
Students honored at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival are as follows:
- Matthew McGee and partner Aaron McGee - Regional winners of the Irene Ryan Acting competition. They will represent our five-state region at the national competition at the Kennedy Center in April.
- Ian Loveall - Regional honorable mention for his set design for It's a Wonderful Life: Live Radio Play.
- Ryan Woods and partner Kia Vassiliades - Finalists in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition.
- Matthew Schiltz and partner Joel Presley - Semi-finalists in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition.
- Edward Anderson and partner Miguel Gastelum - Semi-finalists in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition.
- Magnus Chhan - recipient of scholarship to attend Summer Arts Steppenwolf workshop.
Fresno State student part of CSU science initiative
Student Kaitlyn Fiechtner participated in NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base this summer as part of the California State University system’s Science Teacher and Researcher (STAR) program. Fiechtner, a senior mathematics major at Fresno State, analyzed NASA’s FOSS (for Fiber-Optic Strain-Sensing system). CSU's pioneering STAR program selects pre-service teachers (upper-division science, math and engineering majors and teaching credential students) as fellows. STAR dispatches the fellows for nine- to 10-weeks at national laboratories and other research centers to investigate challenging technical research questions while working with the labs’ engineers and scientists.
Human Resources students win 10th state championship
A team of three management students from the Craig School of Business defeated defending champion CSU, Stanislaus in the California State Human Resource Management Games Feb. 12 for a tenth state championship Students Lauren Velarde of Visalia, Rhiannon Gardenhire of Fresno and Mitchell Pfyl of Boulder Creek, defeated a team from sister valley campus CSU Stanislaus in the championship match 8,400 to 5,400 after dispatching a CSU team from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the semi-final. Each Fresno student won a $500 scholarship provided by the Professional in Human Resources Association. Held at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the five-game contest uses a “Jeopardy” style format to test students’ knowledge in areas of management practices, employee selection, labor and employee relations, compensation and benefits, training and development and safety and health. Ericka Islas, a fall 2010 graduate of Fresno, and students Burke Hudson of Fresno, and Paul Zwama of Leens, Netherlands, also were successful in the round-robin competition and earned the second seed in the final four but eventually lost to Stanislaus. This is the tenth state championship for the Craig School of Business and adds to an impressive record in the HR Games. Fresno’s business students have won five regional championships, the most of any school in the seven-state region.
REACT campaign a success
Selena Farnesi (executive vice president of ASI) working closely with the Graduation Rate Initiative Subcommittee of the Student Success Task Force, has successfully launched the REACT campaign (Resilient, Engaged, Advised, Connected, and Tutored) to help increase the graduation rate by six percent in six years. With the help of ASI Senator of Academic Affairs Lauren Smoot, Farnesi began a poster campaign which consisted of student designed and produced posters providing students with information and resources to help them be successful in completing their education. The posters hang in the USU and classrooms all over campus and have been recognized by CSSA (California State Student Association) as a positive student campaign towards increased graduation. Farnesi and Smoot are working on additional student-led projects and initiatives, including a Chair Chat and Declare Yourself campaign coming in April.
Senior recognized by Chamber of Commerce, receives award
Dirk Johnson — a senior earning his B.S. in Business Administration, Entrepreneurship Option — received the entrepreneur of the year award in the college-level category from the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce. Johnson, co-founder of Simple Solar Cleaning Systems, a fully-functional automated cleaning system for residential solar panels, started his business from an idea that originated from a senior project at Fresno State. The award honors “a college student from the Central Valley who has best demonstrated exceptional vision, innovation and leadership in the establishment and development of an owner-led business,” as defined by the Fresno Chamber of Commerce. The Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce, the Lyles Center, and Central Valley Business Incubator, Inc. presented $1,000 to accompany the award itself. Last year, Johnson, Ben Nagels and Adam Shor, co-owners of Simple Solar and now seniors at Fresno State, were awarded $10,000 in the Dream It! Win it! Business Competition at the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The young entrepreneurs were also awarded an office in the Hatchery at the Lyles Center to help them start up their business.
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Vol. 14 
